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Literature Circle

Blog entries relating to literature circles

Indigenous

Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle

In the past, when teaching my students about Indigenous perspectives, I have often taken an approach that focuses on human rights. We spend time learning about colonialism in Canada and focus on texts

Indigenous

Graphic Novels and Indigenous Rights

Every year I try to improve how I include Indigenous voices and perspectives in my classroom. A unit I developed this year was a mini-literature circle that focused on graphic novels by Indigenous

Literature Circle

Piecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together, by Renée Watson, is a young adult novel that examines issues of race, privilege and identity for a teen girl from a poor neighbourhood. Jade, the book's main character, is

Education

Repeating the Mistakes of Underground to Canada: Examining my own Biases

While I was in middle school, I only read one novel with Black characters for language arts class: Underground to Canada. This novel told the story of four Black people escaping from slavery

Environment

The Failings of Climate Change Fiction

Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these

Identity

Identity Literature Circle

Earlier this year, I decided to develop another literature circle for my grade seven classroom. I currently teach two literature circles that focus on the themes of human rights and heroic journeys respectively.

Courage

Heroic Journey Lit Circle Overview

I have written a number of entries that analyze specific books from my Heroic Journey Literature Circle unit. To sum it all up, here is an overview of the unit, along with my

Courage

The Power of Visual Texts

Visual texts are great jumping off points for discussion and reflection during literature circles. Since students are reading a variety of books, it is useful to have common texts to help anchor the

Courage

When a Book Fails

Not every book is going to be a winner and not every story will grab hold of a reader's attention. Back when I used to teach whole class novels, this used to be

Courage

Nimona: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 4

One of my favourite books in our heroic journey literature circle is the graphic novel Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson. Originally created as a webcomic, the graphic novel focuses on Nimona, the shape shifting

Courage

Peak: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 3

The third book in our heroic journey literature circle is Peak, by Roland Smith. Peak is about a boy of the same name, who is initially arrested for scaling skyscrapers. To avoid jail

Courage

Devil's Pass: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 2

In our Heroic Journey literature circle, another book that students enjoy is Devil's Pass, by Sigmund Brouwer. It tells the story of Webb, a teen who is struggling with an abusive stepfather. After

Courage

How To Be A Hero

This week, my grade seven classes started our Heroic Journey literature circle unit. During this unit, students will discuss what it means to be a hero and analyse books using the heroic journey

Identity

Posted by John David Anderson

Over the last two months, I have been toying with the idea of building a new literature circle for my class based on the theme of identity. As I investigated texts, a second

Indigenous

He Who Dreams - The Importance of High Interest Books

For years, when I taught whole class novels I often felt stuck when it came to supporting struggling readers. Asking them to independently read a text that was beyond their current abilities clearly

LGBTQ

Lily and Dunkin

Recently, I started hunting for novels for an identity themed literature circle. Lily and Dunkin, by Donna Gephart, was a recurring suggestion. The book has been on my list for a while, so

Human Rights

Human Rights Literature Circles

I love teaching grade seven students. At twelve and thirteen years old, my students are old enough to start delving into real world issues in more detail than their elementary school counterparts. As

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